Introduction to the Promotion Tools :: SAS(R) 9.3 Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide, Second Edition

About Promotion

Promotion is the process of copying selected metadata and associated physical content within or between planned deployments of SAS software. This process is repeatable for a particular deployment.

About the Promotion Tools

The SAS Intelligence Platform provides tools that enable you to promote individual metadata objects or groups of objects from one SAS deployment to another, or from one folder location to another within the same deployment. You can promote metadata as well as the physical files that are associated with metadata.

The promotion tools include the following:

the Export SAS Package and Import SAS Package wizards, which are available in the Folders tab of SAS Management Console. The same wizards are also available in SAS Data Integration Studio and SAS OLAP Cube Studio.
the batch import tool and the batch export tool, which enable you to perform promotions on a scheduled or repeatable basis. These tools provide most of the same capabilities as the Export SAS Packageand Import SAS Package wizards.

When to Use the Promotion Tools

The promotion tools (including the Export SAS Package and Import SAS Package wizards and the batch export and import tools) support the following types of scenarios:

promotion of content from one location in the SAS Folders tree to another location in the same tree. For example, you might want to promote newly developed (or newly modified) content from a user's home folder to a location under the Shared Data folder.
promotion of content from a test environment to a production environment. For example, you might want to promote newly developed (or newly modified) content from a metadata server that is installed on a test machine to a metadata server that is installed on a production machine.
importing content that was exported from a SAS 9.2 (or SAS 9.1.3) environment. This capability is useful in the following situations:
- You are upgrading from SAS 9.1.3 or SAS 9.2 to SAS 9.3, but you chose not to use the SAS Migration Utility. For details, see SAS Intelligence Platform: Migration Guide.
- You are running SAS 9.3 in parallel with SAS 9.1.3 or SAS 9.2, and you want to update your SAS 9.3 system with new content that you created in the earlier release.
creating a backup of specific folders and objects. In this case, you would use the Export SAS Package wizard or the batch export tool to create a package file. If you later need to restore the folders or objects, you would use the Import SAS Package wizard or the batch import tool to restore the contents of the package file to the metadata server.

Types of Objects That Can Be Promoted

You can use the promotion tools to promote almost all types of content that are stored in the SAS Folders tree. The content types include libraries, tables, jobs, cubes, information maps, reports, and many other types depending on which applications you have installed.

In SAS 9.3, support was added for promoting additional object types including security objects (users, user groups, roles, and access control templates) and server objects (SAS Application Servers and their component servers, SAS object spawners, and SAS/CONNECT spawners). In the second maintenance release of SAS 9.3, promotion support was added for the following server types: content servers, database servers, DataFlux Federation Servers, enterprise application servers, generic batch servers, grid monitoring servers, Hadoop servers, message queue polling servers, SAS/SHARE servers, SAS Scalable Performance Data (SPD) servers, and all types of scheduling servers.

Virtual folders called Servers and Security are displayed in the SAS Folders tree in SAS Management Console for use in promoting these objects.

Limitations of the Promotion Tools

The following limitations apply to the promotion tools that are described in this documentation:

When using the export and import wizards in SAS Data Integration Studio and SAS OLAP Cube Studio, you can promote only the objects that pertain to the application. For example, in SAS Data Integration Studio, you can promote objects such as libraries, tables, jobs, and cubes, but you cannot promote objects that are unrelated to data integration (such as reports and dashboard objects).
You cannot use the export and import wizards or the batch export and import tools to promote portal pages, page templates, portlet instances, and the portal's application and user permissions trees. This content is not stored in the SAS Folders tree. To promote these items, you can use the content promotion tool for the SAS Information Delivery Portal. See About the Portal Promotion Tools in SAS Intelligence Platform: Web Application Administration Guide.

Overview of the Promotion Process

Promotion is a three-step process:

First, you must prepare the source and target environments. The preparation steps include ensuring that the required servers are configured and running. If you are promoting metadata from one metadata server to another, you must prepare the target environment by creating directories for the physical files. For details, see Preparing to Use the Promotion Tools.
Second, you use the Export SAS Package wizard (or the batch export tool) to export the selected objects or folders from the source metadata server. The wizard or the batch tool places the exported objects in a SAS package (SPK) file. If you want the SPK file to be available remotely, then you can direct the package to a shared location within your file system. You can also transport the package by e-mail or FTP after it has been created.
Third, you use the Import SAS Package wizard (or the batch import tool) to import the package file. You can import the package to either of the following:
- another metadata server, which can be located either on the same host machine or a different host machine
- a different location in the SAS Folders tree on the source metadata server (except for server and security metadata, which can be imported only to the Server and Security folders, respectively)

Three-step Promotion Process

The package format is the same regardless of whether the package is created in SAS Management Console, in SAS Data Integration Studio, in SAS OLAP Cube Studio, or by the batch export tool. In addition, the package format is the same regardless of the host machine's operating system. Therefore, packages can be interchanged as follows:

A package that is exported by using SAS Management Console can be imported by using SAS Data Integration Studio or SAS OLAP Cube Studio, and vice versa. However, SAS Data Integration Studio and SAS OLAP Cube Studio can export and import only the objects that pertain to the application.
A package that is exported by using the Export SAS Package wizard can be imported by using the batch import tool.
A package that is exported by using the batch export tool can be imported by using the Import SAS Package wizard.
You can export a package from a Windows system and import it to a UNIX system, and vice versa.

Introduction to the Promotion Tools